A Dutch theologian who was banned recently from appearing in a local Reform Church for saying that Jesus is a myth drawn from Egyptian religion has stated that he has studied my book Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection. Rev. Dr. Edward van der Kaaij ruffled many feathers when he publicly avowed what is called “Jesus mythicism,” making headlines around the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. In a private email reproduced here with his permission, Pastor van der Kaaij remarked:

Pastor Edward van der Kaaij is preaching that Jesus did not exist and that his story is a myth. The proclamation has gotten him banned from guest lecturing at a nearby Reformed Church.

“When someone reads Genesis 1 as a scientific explanation of how the world came into being, and concludes that the beginning was not about 13 billion years ago (as we know now) because the Bible states that it was about 70,000 years ago, then you do not properly understand the Bible,” explained van der Kaaij.

“The gospel is telling us a deeper truth, that goes far beyond the facts of life. That’s why I say: it did not happen like this and it is a fact that Jesus did not exist (I give a lot of proofs in my book to underline this).”

The book referred to by the pastor is one he published after seven years of studying, titled The Uncomfortable Truth of Christianity. The book was released last April and describes how all elements of the Biblical story of Jesus have their roots in a myth from ancient Egypt.

“Everyone is entitled to his opinion,” said Church Council Chairperson Meindert Zuur. “But there is no time for this during worship,” he continued.

The church is discussing the controversy with the pastor after hours, but is maintaining a united front in front of churchgoers. “You do not want to provoke conflict,” said Zuur.

The 62-year-old reformed pastor is aligned to the Vredeskerk (Peace Church) Nijkerk, where he is continuing to preach. Despite distressed reactions from worshipers, the church has not taken action against van der Kaaij.

“I am a Protestant and an important aspect of our belief is that the Bible is God’s Word (although written by men) and the starting point of our belief,” said van der Kaaij to NL Times. “So it is important to explain the Bible properly.”

The pastor describes his congregation as “enthusiastic” about his explanation of gospel. “The gospel gets more value when you read it according to what it is: a myth. Note that the word ‘myth’ does not have a negative meaning, on the contrary it is positive!”

“The deep truth is that Christ is deep in all of us. God created men by giving his breath, He incarnates in every human being. In that way Jesus Christ is the eternal reflection of God in all of us.”

The pastor does not think a lot has changed in his work. “I did not have to restructure my preaching [after the research], it went step by step. When I read an old sermon of mine, I see that I believe in a historical Jesus, but nothing of these “facts” play an important role.”

Van der Kaaij encourages those Christians who are offended by his revelations and work to read the book. “Many colleagues agree with me, not in the detail that Jesus did not exist…he was not of great importance during his life, only afterwards when the story of his life attained mythical proportions.”

“It’s not a mission of mine to convince others that Jesus of Nazareth did not exist,”, said van der Kaaij. “I advise ordinary people who feel happy in the belief they have with a man in mind who factually changed water into wine, calmed the storm and cured blind and deaf people as if he was a doctor to stick to that belief. But theologian need to study the bible properly and must be honest in what they find out. Happily many of them try to do that, I am only one of them.”

The Protestant Church of the Netherlands says the conundrum about the pastor is a local issue in NIjkerk and maintains claims on the historicity of Jesus.

The historicalJesus never existed.. All the elements foundin the storyof Jesusoriginated inancient Egypt.In addition,theprimal mythcomes from a god whoisman,dying and rising, being bornon December 25of a virgin.

I would add that this primal myth can be found around the Mediterranean but is very well developed in Egypt, beginning at least 5,000 years ago, as can be found in my other books and writings.

van der Kaaij also recognizes this archetypal myth has having solar significance:

He has reached the conclusion that Jesus never existed as a historical person. Instead, he claims, all elements of His story do stem from old myths. Egypt is seen as the place of birth of these mythical stories about Jesus. The dying and rising deity is the kernal [sic] of the Osiris myth in Egypt, which originates out of the archetype of the sun: going down and rising every day….

“I endorse the theory that in Alexandria, once an important harbour city, the Jewish version of the old myth came into existence.”

van der Kaaij theorizes that the apostle Paul came across these myths and used them to create the Jesus character, but my work shows that Paul’s contributions were minimal and that the real effort took place during the second century, long after he was dead. It was after the Gnostics of the second century had developed the “spiritual Jesus” found in the Pauline epistles that the effort was increasingly historicized and Judaized, specifically at Alexandria, Egypt. This development is described in detail in Christ in Egypt, in the chapter discussing the Egyptian Therapeuts near Alexandria.

Evemerism v. Mythicism

When van der Kaaij says the following, he is referring to euhemerists or evemerists, i.e., those who believe there is a historical figure somewhere under layers of fabulous fairytales in the gospel story:

“Many colleagues agree with me, not in the detail that Jesus did not exist…he was not of great importance during his life, only afterwards when the story of his life attained mythical proportions.”

In reality, while there indeed may be very many euhemerists/ evemerists in Europe, there are also many mythicists who recognize that there is no historical core to the onion, once the mythological and midrashic layers are removed. Hence, it is best to frame this discussion not in terms of whether or not a Jesus existed, as there were plenty of them in antiquity. It is not, however, their story in the New Testament. Instead, we can say that the gospel story is myth historicized, not literal history or history mythologized. This declaration comes from the scientific study of pre-Christian religion, mythology and history around the Mediterranean and beyond, in which we find most of the same or similar attributes and elements within the myths of other deities, including those of Egypt.

This fact of biblical “borrowing” from Egypt can be found abundantly in my “fantastic book” Christ in Egypt, which draws from thousands of primary sources to show that the gods Osiris and Horus in particular were depicted in texts as possessing many characteristics in common with the later Judeo-Christian messiah.

Pastor van der Kaaij also states that many in his congregation are “enthusiastic” about his frank explanations of the Christ myth, reminding me of the story of Rev. Dr. Robert Taylor, a popular minister in the Church of England who was imprisoned twice in the 1820s for “blasphemy” after he preached Jesus mythicism from his pulpit.

Like Taylor, whose experience with the British legal system was so notorious and frightful that a young Charles Darwin wondered about his own fate, van der Kaaij has been assailed by his fellow clergymen who continue to uphold the supernatural gospel tale as “literal history,” despite the extensive body of evidence against that claim. Much of this evidence for Jesus mythicism can be found in my books, ebooks, articles, blogs, videos and radio programs.

17 Comments

Wow! It seems to me that your work has more acceptance in Europe than in United States. I think he should also read Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of the Christ and Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver. It was said to me by an ex-seminarian that the problems in gospel harmonization is taught within seminary school.

I stumbled upon this YouTube video pthat shows that confirms the Egyptian origins of Christianity http://youtu.be/tNca8e1Syd8. I would like to ask for some clarification. In one myth, Seth defeated Osiris and chopped off his body parts and scattered it all over Egypt. Isis on the other hand, was mourning and searched for his husband’s body parts and attached them but she couldn’t find his phallus so she made an artificial one.

In the ZG sourcebook and Christ In Egypt, you said that Osiris’s phallus is the sharp star Sothis (Sirius) that symbolizes the flooding of the Nile, thus bringing fertility to the soil. However in that YouTube video, the man said Sirius represents Isis’s genitalia ready to be impregnated by Osiris which is Orion (6:57-7:45). In the same video, it was said in the Pyramid Texts that after embalming and mummification of the Pharaoh, they place an artificial phallus so that he can consummate with Isis . Maybe it is one of the many inconsistent myths within Egyptian religion, but then again the Egyptians are really dealing with non real people but with nature personifications. I know that in CIE, there is a discussion that Horus emerged from Osiris’s corpse, and in another, Isis fluttered like a bird over Osiris thus conceiving Horus without sexual union.

“Here’s a video clip of modern Egyptologist Dr. Bojana Mojsov admitting parallels between Osiris &/or Horus with Jesus. And, at 5:30 you’ll see a stone carving of Isis as she hovers over Osiris in the form of a bird to receive the divine seed (notice there’s no ‘member’) of Osiris. Mojsov then says, “It’s a miraculous birth of the savior child.”

It should be no surprise that your work garners more appreciation in European countries for it seems in many ways they are further ahead on these issues, in part, due to all the fundamentalist Christians in positions of power in America that push their anti-mythicism, anti-evolution, anti-science and revisionist history bs. But there are too many looney American atheists who fail to understand the gravity of your work too, which is weird to see them use outdated Christian apologist arguments against your work. It’s just bizarre.

You go girl! This new blog simply proves that one as accurate. I’d love to see more ministers, reverends, preachers, pastors and priests come out of the mythicist closet in support of your work. The world needs your work right now more than they could possibly realize, to head off all the apocalyptic end times agenda.

Between Islam and Christianity, they would set the world on fire and burn the whole place to the ground rather than admit their religions are based on myth. Neither Jesus nor Muhammad even existed, except as mythical characters. And why would anybody get excited about end times beliefs where 2/3 of the population are destroyed?

Well Acharya, I guess Dutch theologian, Rev. Dr. Edward van der Kaaij is not the only one as scholars who’ve actually read your work are supportive of it:

“…In recent months or over the last year or so I have interviewed Frank Zindler and Richard Carrier and David Fitzgerald and Robert Price all on the issue of mythicism … when I spoke to these people I asked for their expertise collectively and what I got, especially from Fitzgerald and Robert Price, was that we should be speaking to tonights guest D.M. Murdock, author of ‘Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver’.”
– Aron Ra

“I find it undeniable that many of the epic heroes and ancient patriarchs and matriarchs of the Old Testament were personified stars, planets, and constellations.” “I find myself in full agreement with Acharya S/D.M. Murdock”

“A heavenly location for the actions of the savior gods, including the death of Christ, would also have been influenced by most religions’ ultimate derivation from astrotheology, as in the worship of the sun and moon. For this dimension of more remote Christian roots, see the books of Acharya S”

– Earl Doherty, Jesus: Neither God Nor Man, (2009) page 153

“Your scholarship is relentless! …the research conducted by D.M. Murdock concerning the myth of Jesus Christ is certainly both valuable and worthy of consideration.”

Why won’t Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins come out of the mythicist closet and acknowledge the importance of Acharya’s work on mythicism and astrotheology? If a Dutch theologian can do it, why can’t they? One would think they’d find it very enlightening and useful. Has anybody asked them their thoughts on Acharya’s work … they especially need to read the book …

I agree the European Jesus is a myth. The European Jesus was invented like the Pauline Christianity to justify the African slave trade. The idea that Jesus never existed at all is worse than saying He was a myth. Jesus in Revelation 3:14 identifies himself as the “Amen”, the beginning and end of creation. The oldest civilizations are African. Egypt was a Cushite or Nubian extension of African civilization. The worship of the Son (sun) God commonly referred to as AmenRa which came from Horus was not a myth but a part of the prehistory of Africa.

In the early years of the twentieth century some psychologists and psychiatrists such as Dr. Charles Binet-Sanglé, Professor of Psychology at the University of Paris, Dr. J. Dagonet, a physician at St. Anne’s Hospital in Paris and Dr. B. Ball, Professor of Mental Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine in Paris made various diagnosis about Jesus.

A fundamentalist’s acceptance of the complete veracity of the gospels accounts lead men trained in the field of psychopathology to conclude that Jesus was a sick madman!

Jesus suffered from the ‘hallucinatory syndrome’. This is proven by the numerous visions he experienced throughout his ministry.

He also suffered from ‘dromomania’ (irrepressible wanderlust).

Jesus was an egocentric maniac devoid of profundity of thought, incoherent and often amoral.

The sweat of blood at Gethsemane (Luke 22:44) shows a defect in his vaso-motor system and is in reality a facial ‘hematidrosis’.

Jesus had problems with his digestive system. The forty day fast was actually an attack of ‘sitiophobia’.

The fact that Jesus was incapable of carrying the cross himself (Mark 15:21; Matthew 27:32; Luke 23:26) and the pleuro-tubercular effusion revealed by the lance-thrust (John 19:34) shows that Jesus had problems with his respiratory organs as well.

Jesus probably had problems with his genital organs as well. We get psychological hints from Jesus’ encouragement of castration (Matthew 19:12) and his glorification of sterility (Luke 23:29).

Jesus also suffered from ‘Oedipism’ or a tendency to engage self-mutilation.

We have the testimony from his family, his mother and brothers (Mark 3:21) and his enemies (Mark 3:22), who all thought that he was ‘mad’.

Thanks, but Jesus wasn’t King Izas Manu of Edessa or any of the other characters RE has come up with. He is significantly a SOLAR myth.

The “Jesus Christ” of the New Testament is a fictional compilation of characters, not a single historical individual. A compilation of multiple “people” is no one. When the mythological and midrashic layers are removed, there remains no historical core to the onion. The gospel story is mythology historicized, not history mythologized.

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"Previously I have interviewed Frank Zindler, Richard Carrier, David Fitzgerald and Robert Price, all of whom are ‘mythicists'; they don’t think there was ever anyone alive whom we could recognize as either Jesus or Moses. Of the lot of them, I would have thought that Price was the foremost expert, but he referred me to D.M. Murdock, also known as Acharya S, author of Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver, an impressive piece of work. It’s definitive.” —Aron Ra, president, American Atheists-TX

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“Your scholarship is relentless! …the research conducted by D.M. Murdock concerning the myth of Jesus Christ is certainly both valuable and worthy of
consideration.” —Dr. Kenneth L. Feder, Professor of Archaeology, Central Connecticut State University, Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience In Archaeology

“I find myself in full agreement with Acharya S/D.M. Murdock… I find it undeniable that…many, many of the epic heroes and ancient patriarchs and matriarchs of the Old Testament were personified stars, planets, and constellations…” —Dr. Robert M. Price, The Pre-Nicene New Testament

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“Well-referenced, with numerous quotations from renowned Egyptologists and classical scholars, Acharya’s penetrating research clearly lays out the very ancient pre-Christian basis of modern Christianity. Those who espouse Christianity beware! After digesting the evidence, you will never again view your religion in the same light.” —Dr. Robert M. Schoch, Professor of Natural Science College of General Studies at Boston University; Author, Pyramid Quest, Voyages of the Pyramid Builders and Voices of the Rocks

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